Iron and Blood: A Military History of the German-speaking Peoples Since 1500

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Its military experience has also been extraordinarily threatened and threatening; a mere buffer-zone, and a global threat. The book deserves all the plaudits heaped upon it is important and fascinating, the centrality and importance it gives to the Holy Roman empire between 1400 and 1700 and also Hapsburg/Holy Roman Empire/Swiss relations will probably be a revelation to most Englsih language readers as will the continuities over the centuries and the role of the Austrian/Austro-Hungarian empire within the story. Not for the faint of heart, but great book for those looking for a broad overlook of military history and culture as it interacted and reacted to political currents and whims. Iron and Blood is a startlingly ambitious and absorbing book, encompassing five centuries of political, military, technological and economic change to tell the story of the German-speaking lands, from the Rhine to the Balkan frontier, from Switzerland to the North Sea. As Germans usually faced enemies superior in terms of men and materiel, their consistent strategy was to strike hard and win quickly.

Its long view of Germany's military history, magisterial detail and acute analysis provide a new understanding of what was once Europe's warring heart. Their armed forces’ fighting style was characterised by a ruthless obsession with ‘military necessity’, a myopic focus on battlefield tactics and extraordinary violence. Both the empire and the Swiss Confederation were largely defensive in orientation, while German participation in foreign wars was most often in partnership with allies. Wilson is the author of the highly acclaimed Europe's Tragedy: A New History of the Thirty Years War (2009) and The Holy Roman Empire: A Thousand Years of Europe's History (2016).This doctrine was proved blindingly successful in Bismarck's 1870 war against France, but was devastatingly wrong in 1914. It encompasses five centuries of political, military, technological and economic change to tell the story of the German-speaking lands, from the Rhine to the Balkan frontier, from Switzerland to the North Sea.

The country now seen as a bastion of peace spends heavily on defense in comparison to its peers and is deeply invested in less kinetic contemporary forms of coercive power.Military buffs ought to be aware that this work doesn't focus on battles, operational details, or military nuts and bolts.

I would never suggest that this is a book not worth reading but it is not one I felt that I had to read. This is what I would describe as “hardcore” military history, covering off areas as diverse as logistics, the rights of soldiers to marry and how armies were funded. However if you’re looking to experience the history, the people and compile a working understanding of the interwoven strands then look elsewhere. Another book, in English, which puts further nails in the coffin of the idea of Germany's Sonderweg (special path); that it is still necessary at the end of the first quarter of the 21st century shows the persistence of popular, and comforting, myths in popular history.Starting in 1500 with the Holy Roman Empire describing the relationship between the electors and empire and between each other, reasons when the war was deemed as permissible, means to wage the war, day to day of the army, relationship between the army and the civilian, advances in weaponry and strategy and how those changed the face of war. Nor can I pretend that I have read all of this book - I have tried twice and have abandoned it not through any other reason than lack of time and also a failure to become as engaged with its subject as I had with his earlier books.

To explain modern Germany’s aggression, Anglophone military historians have often claimed the existence of a uniquely German way of war. The primary aggressor in Central Europe was not Prussia but the Austrian Habsburg monarchy, yet Austria’s strength owed much to its ability to secure allies.

Its military experience has also been extraordinarily varied: threatened and threatening; a mere buffer-zone, and a global threat. While many conflicts and specific battles are referenced in passing here, the author's themes are far grander in design.